


Dentist: Shop 9

by AutumnleafAuthor



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: (i say as if im not the author), Human AU, In which Julian has a dentist office in a shopping mall next to Garak's chocolate shop, M/M, Shopping Mall AU, and maybe one day i shall write my version of the wire for this, and one day they may have lunch, currently still preslash, i would certainly like to, modern day AU, now with: political intrigue and the mob, the idea is courtesy of xenobotanist, which i hope shall change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-13 15:34:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29155914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AutumnleafAuthor/pseuds/AutumnleafAuthor
Summary: Modern Day Shopping Center AU: Julian is a dentist next door to Garak’s Chocolatiers. Once a week they have lunch at the Panera on the corner (this is based on an actual place I visit if you can’t tell). Bonus points if Garak is addicted to speed and Julian helps him detox.(Idea comes from Xenobotanist on tumblr: https://xenobotanist.tumblr.com/post/640326072466096128/garashir-fics-i-really-want-to-write-but-will )
Relationships: Julian Bashir/Elim Garak
Comments: 20
Kudos: 29





	1. (Past) Prologue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Xenobotanist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xenobotanist/gifts).



> Y'all don't know how long I struggled to come up with a title

This wasn’t the first time Doctor Bashir wondered whether a shopping mall was truly the best place for a Dentist. Between the many restaurants and the adjacent cinema, you’d think that the people that spend the most time here wouldn’t much care for a dentist – but then again, he thought, maybe especially because of all this, the people here might be in desperate need for one.

Now, standing before his new little clinic, the yellow neon sign next door loudly proclaiming “GARAK’S CHOCOLATIERS”, it was all he could do not to burst out laughing at the irony.

He was almost tempted to pay the shop a visit, but managed to convince himself otherwise at the prospect of any potential customers seeing their Dentist plundering the nougat selection and just what wonderful things an image like that could do to his new business. Instead, he took another deep breath (and swallowed the last remains of that ridiculous laughter he’d almost let out) and instead unlocked the flimsy iron gates protecting his storefront. He’d have to figure out whether the back entrance or the business front entrance were more time efficient another day.

Lights on, doors open, one last swipe disinfecting all visible surfaces even though noone’s been here yet except for him. At 7:30 am sharp, Nurse Jabara, who had decided to follow him after they’d worked together during his residency, arrived with her wife in tow, who’d apparently wanted to see her spouses new place of work. At 7:45, he and Jabara had set up the small treatment room at the back – no surgeries here, the most he could do was fillings and the like in a small space like this – and had supplied the waiting room with a full tank in the water dispenser, which they only almost dropped, and a few of the local newspapers. At 7:53, Jabara had dragged two stools out of their little break room/toilet and placed them behind the counter and ordered her new boss to sit, otherwise he pace a path into the floor before they’d even opened. At 7:55, the gate in front of the clothing store to the right of the store opened, all even and automatic – no surprise, that thing is at least five metres across, Doctor Bashir thought to himself. At 7:58, the gate to the left of his brand new office opened, manually this time, he was certain, even though the three little tugs sounded almost too precisely similar in length. At 8:00 am, the overhead lights in the large corridor hummed to life, probably on a timer, he thought.

He glanced over at Jabara, who was standing by the counter all proper and stiff, looking out into the corridor with anticipation, before she turned to him. After a second, they both burst into laughter, even though trying to keep a professional veneer while gasping for air could be considered an impossible task – it wasn’t as if it mattered anyways.

“You’d think two seasoned medical professionals would know better than to expect anyone coming into a mall at opening, eh?”

Jabara had barely caught her breath and was clutching her stomach – not that he was much better off himself.

“Not to mention that I don’t think either of us ever got up any earlier than nine unless we had to!”

“So, do I have to call you ‘Doctor’ now that we’re no longer roommates in college?” She gave a lopsided grin.

He returned it, through all the nerves, enthusiastically.

“I think, as long as you’re not pointing out cavities to me, Julian will do just fine.”

~*~

It was almost disappointing how predictably Julian’s day was going, he thought, looking at the wallclock reading 12:27 pm. This way, he could neither be disappointed at getting way too little customers on his first day, nor delighted at getting a lot more foot traffic than he’d thought. No, he hadn’t thought he’d get more than a handful new customers right away, and that was exactly what happened: seven people had come in and inquired about their opening and appointment times, one mother had sheepishly asked if they could take a look at their daughter, who’d been complaining about a mild toothache, and one of his old customers from his residency had stopped by to say that he’d likely be switching here – all in all, it was about as average as a first day of anything could be.

He and Jabara had decided to take a midday break from 12:30 until 2:30, and, seeing as they were the only employees of his little clinic, it would be closed in the meantime, which was just as well, seeing as most people had their lunch during that time anyways. Thus, Julian’s hand was basically already on the light switch as he heard someone politely cough behind him.

“I’m sorry, we’re about to close for lunch, if you could- “

It was truly a testament to his dad’s rigorous memory training that he managed to register the mustard yellow apron with the chocolate shop’s logo on it – if he were a less attentive person, he would surely have been completely stuck in the wearer’s crystal blue eyes that seemed to sparkle in the white overhead lights. Still, Julian barely noticed he’d completely frozen until the man that had just appeared in the doorway raised a sharply maintained dark eyebrow in amusement before taking another tentative step forward into the Dentist’s office.

“My apologies, I truly do not mean to keep you from your lunch, at least not for long. It’s Doctor Bashir, isn’t it? Of course it is.” There was a slight smirk playing around the man’s mouth, polite, but somehow also curious and teasing. “May I introduce myself?”

He must have nodded there at some point.

“My name is Garak. A confectioner by profession, obviously. In fact, it appears I am now to be your neighbour! You are planning on making your business here, are you not?”

“I- uh, yes.” _Well. That was certainly smooth, Julian_ , he thought to himself.

“Of course I hope you bear no ill will towards me – after all, one could say my job is to destroy what you fix!”

Julian managed a breathy laugh. “Well, I can hardly decide what people eat in their free time. And even so, technically, one could say you bring me customers?” How odd, he appeared to have unlocked a whole range of high notes in his voice today.

“Ah, how clever indeed – an open mind, I see, the _essence_ of intellect. And who knows, maybe I can even one day count you as one of my customers?”

He let out another breathy laugh, trying to get his brain to at least get in enough of a working order to manage a smile and not have him standing there with his mouth hanging dumbly open.

“So, if you should require any sweets, or simply wish, as I do, for some _enjoyable_ company every now and then, I’m at your disposal, Doctor.”

“Y-you’re very kind, Mister Garak” he managed to squeeze out. If only the other man would stop looking at him like that-

“Oh, it’s just Garak. Plain, simple Garak.”

He found himself nodding again.

“Now, good day to you, Doctor.” It took Julian a second to realise he was being offered a hand to shake. “I’m so glad to have made such an…interesting new friend today.”

He wasn’t really sure for how long he stood there, hand tingling with the ghost of a cold touch from before, and at some point Garak must have left again, and Jabara must’ve moved past him, now holding her wallet.

“Are you coming, Julian? Didn’t you want to turn the lights off?”

“I- yes, yes, I’m doing that now – listen, you won’t believe who just introduced himself!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now for the age-old question: what the actual fuck does a dentist do in a shopping mall? I really truly have no idea why one would choose to do that  
> Also, would anyone actually like it if I made more of this? I’d most certainly like to write more, but I want to know if its worth wondering what the whole rest of the recurring cast is up to in this mall…


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where I finally fulfill the main part of the prompt, or: trying not to show that I've never been to a Panera in my life by avoiding detail

I was supposed to be writing this, but ended up watching videos of bearded dragons running into walls instead

As it turned out, the back entrance could be more efficient: if Julian got off the bus the stop before the central hub at the mall, he saved about three minutes commute and one minute walktime. Jabara still arrived by car, seeing as she now shared a route with her wife – a teacher at the local primary school, as he’d recently learned, but even those two found that avoiding the main parking lot and simply circling around the back of the building could indeed save time. In a way, Julian was glad to have an official excuse – he had found that walking more or less alone through an empty shopping mall before opening was not the most relaxing experience to be had first thing in the morning. And perhaps it was a little childish of him, but Jabara was two years older and sometimes he still felt like he had to justify certain behaviour around her, especially since he was her boss, after all.

The only thing that put a small damper on his commute of choice was that this way, he always stopped just short of the back entrance to the neighbouring chocolate shop and couldn’t even sneak a glance at one of the windows. Of course, he still risked a look when pulling the gate open in the morning and even kept half an eye at the back corridor before opening time, but one mystery remained through the whole two weeks he had been working here: Even that one day he arrived an hour earlier to supervise the resident caretaker and mechanic Miles O’Brien repairing his diagnosis camera, he saw no one enter the shop the entire time – until the gates lifted at precisely 7:58 am and the lights went on.

Maybe it wasn’t Julian’s business in the first place to pay such close attention to his new workplace neighbour, but he couldn’t deny that the mysterious chocolatier had caught his attention, enraptured it more thoroughly than any medical mystery or novel had ever managed – especially since they couldn’t seem to quite stay away from each other. A conversation at the local bar, Quark’s, where he’d soon figured out most of the resident shop owners spent their midday breaks while all potential customers preferred to crowd into the designated food court (while Quark had set his bar up in one of the establishments facing outside) – “And how are you today, Mister Garak – oh, excuse me, just plain, simple Garak, you said.” – “Plain and simple. Join me, Doctor: _enhance_ my evening.” – or a quick glance and nod and Julian had decided, only to stretch his legs, of course, to take the long way around on his way out, a remark on some particularly loud customers as he stepped outside to see what the commotion was about – “They had a bit of an odd taste in sweets, I’m afraid.” – “I just hope you don’t have to make use of my services for a broken jaw instead of a cavity!” – really, he had never anticipated that he’d make friends with the local Chocolatier before one of the gorgeous shopkeepers from the hardware shop, Dax was her name, who had inquired whether he could make an exception and fit her in during lunch so she wouldn’t have to negotiate taking time off, but here he was, straightening out the Waiting Room and trying very hard not to think about the fact that he and Garak had decided to take lunch at the mall’s Panera today instead, one of the other shops with outside seating, as a matter of fact, run by a small, but fierce woman that he was certain could throw him over the counter in a second if she wanted to, but she was friends with the local security guard - and that the Chocolatier had said that he had a small surprise for him if he could arrange time for a shared lunch. Julian was just a little bit glad that Jabara had seemingly made friends with one of the cashiers from that clothing store next to their practise, otherwise he’d be afraid of neglecting her at this point.

Speaking of the devil – or in this case, thinking of, rather, he heard his nurse clear her throat behind him, and noticed only now that, instead of distributing the daily paper as per usual, he had been clutching said papers while craning his neck at the window in order to get a glance at the still unlit displays of a certain chocolate shop, and when exactly had that happened? As if he didn’t know exactly why she had gotten his attention, he quickly put down the newspapers he was holding and turned around, trying to get what felt like a blush under control.

“Yes, Jabara?”

“If you want chocolate so badly, I’m sure I could spare you for a minute when he opens his shop, y’know…” Oh, just great. There was that teasing grin she always got when she thought she knew something that she definitely _didn’t_ know.

“Oh, really, what kind of advertisement would that be? ‘Here’s your new local dentist, watch him make the worst possible choices for his own dental care!’”

“If it’s your image you’re worried about, I’m sure Mister Garak can bring some samples along the next time you two have your lunch date, hm?”

Oh, really now that was-

“It’s – no, why would you, it’s not a date! We’re just… two coll- well, almost-colleagues having a friendly lunch!”

And now she was downright snickering – “You just keep telling yourself that, Julian.”

He swallowed any further attempt at a comment (and tried to keep the indignant sputtering to a minimum, as much as he would ever manage that), and placed down the last paper before shuffling behind the counter, where Jabara had already taken up residence on one of the backroom chairs (the proper barstools he’d ordered after he realised that they would likely be spending some time sitting around were due to arrive within the week), just as, on time at 7:58 am as per usual, the neighbouring chocolate shop opened it’s iron gates.

~*~

Four and a half hours was too long a time, in Julian’s opinion, to stay focused on nothing but his work, and, knowing himself, he likely couldn’t even if he tried. Still, he attempted to keep the oh so distracting thoughts of the resident Chocolatier, and their scheduled lunch, and his waiting surprise, and what that would be, maybe it really was a small sample package of chocolates, maybe Garak wanted to get a discount for an appointment and was trying to curry some favour with – _he attempted_ to keep those kinds of thoughts in the back of his head, lest he accidentally started drilling holes into a wrong tooth. He had to admit, it wasn’t going very well. The keeping the thoughts out of his head part, not the ‘trying not to inattentively maim any patients’ part, to his relief. Thus, he was most definitely relieved when 12:30 pm came around and he finally snapped off the lights and locked the door behind Jabara and himself and he hoped to all Gods above that she didn’t notice that he’d almost started skipping as he began walking towards the Panera shop.

Julian had long since suspected that Garak started his lunch break a little earlier than he did, since the Chocolatier seemed to be at whatever lunch spot happened to be the choice of the day before Julian arrived. As was the case today, and quite luckily so, it turned out, seeing as Garak had procured one of the last inside tables for them (it was getting rather stormy outside) and was happily sipping a cup of…oh, that really did smell a bit rancid – it had to be that juice that Garak orders at Quark’s as a caffeine replacement, and boy was he glad that Garak had apparently taken the courtesy of already ordering something for Julian as well, he figured from the spicy smell that seemed to flow into the air around them from a blue cup sitting on the table untouched as he took the opposite seat, because at least this seemed to slightly drown out the absolutely repugnant smell.

He was certain Garak must’ve already noticed him, so he gave an amused smile as his lunch companion looked up with an acknowledging sound and smile as he rounded the table.

“I hope you don’t mind that I already ordered a drink for you, Doctor – Tarkalean Tea, as usual?”  
  


“Thank you, and you’re drinking that Rokassa Juice, aren’t you, Garak?”

A respectfully raised eyebrow, and really, Julian was certain they could be positively deadly with how sharp they looked.

“How did you know?”

“The odour is unmistakable.” He made sure to sufficiently exaggerate the statement, since, in his experience, people took better to his teasing when they were in fact aware that it was supposed to be teasing (not that he’d ever had that problem with Garak, but better to be safe than sorry). Thus, they successfully shared a chuckle.

“So it is. Tell me, Doctor,” the Chocolatier set down his cup, “what kinds of novels do you usually indulge in in your free time? You already disclosed, of course, that you do enjoy reading, but I am curious as to which genre you tend to prefer.”

Another key feature of Garak’s – he seemed to manage conversations at a nonchalantly breakneck pace, to a point where Julian could always follow in the moment, but often sat there afterwards wondering how exactly they had gone from one topic to the other. This was no different: as per usual, he had no idea where his lunch companion drew this topic from.

“I, well… I tend to read Thrillers, mostly, sometimes crime or action novels…why do you ask?”

“Oh, I was just wondering whether I could drag you away from your usual repartee for a while.” With that, the Chocolatier tugged a book out from underneath the table and placed it in front of Julian with a little flourish that he couldn’t help to grin at. At least this explained the conversation.

“Oh, I was just wondering whether I could drag you away from your usual repartee for a while.” With that, the Chocolatier tugged a book out from underneath the table and placed it in front of Julian with a little flourish that he couldn’t help to grin at. At least this explained the conversation.

“It's admittedly a bit of an obscure work, a local classic where I'm from. As you can see, it's titled ‘Contemplations on a Crimson Phantom’ and imagines a detailed story set during wartime – perhaps a trifle dull for your tastes, but....”

Julian had found himself observing the book cover with curiosity – it looked rather brown, but apparently so from use and age rather than intend, because underneath, a shade of red shimmered through, and it was a bit ironic that what were likely supposed to look like blood drippings now rather reminded him of chocolate – and realised that maybe he was supposed to say something here, _oh he'd messed it up already, hadn't he, Garak already felt the need to explain-_

“Oh, no, I-I’m sure it'll be just fine! I mean, I can't know that, of course, but I'll read it anyway – hold on, you did mean to lend this to me, didn't you? Or did I just-"

“Not to worry, Doctor, that was indeed my intention.” Once again, he marvelled at Garak's seemingly endless patience for his antics.

“Good, good, I'll just-" Julian stowed the book away on the empty chair next to himself and gave a smile. “Thanks for letting me read this.”

“Oh, not at all, Doctor - .in fact, I have rather selfish motivations! There’s no one around that knows this work, so I quite look forward to having someone to discuss it with.”

Julian let out a small chuckle. “I should be done within a week, judging from the size. We could meet here again, it's certainly more civil than Quark's, next Monday?”

“It would be my pleasure, Doctor. Now, I'm positively famished, I've been doing little else but rolling Pralines all morning. Shall we order?”

Not only found Julian that the Panera provided less interruptions to his and Garak’s meal, seeing as there were basically no acquaintances from the local shops around, but also that the food was miles better than the slightly soggy fries, the almost-burned hot dogs and the I-don’t-know-what’s-in-there-but-something-seems-off puddings that were being served at Quark’s. All too soon, 2 pm rolled around, at which point he and Garak began their stroll back to their respective shops, seeing as especially the Chocolatier had a good bit more prep work to do, and even Julian had to acknowledge that it was probably for the better if he made sure his office was clean before the next patient came around. With a content grin and a light hum on his lips, he tucked the borrowed novel under his arm and unlocked the shop’s door (he and Jabara both had a key and had agreed to keep the shop locked when only one of them was there as a safety precaution).Entering the office, it took a good few seconds for him to register the look on his nurse’s face as she greeted him with a nod, standing by the counter, and for a second, he really wished he could hold onto his cheery lunch-mood for just a moment longer as he felt it slipping away.

“What’s wrong, Jabara?”

“Julian,” she seemed equal parts apologetic and concerned, “could we talk for a moment?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all don't know how long I stalled publishing this because of my book choice (and because I feared that trying to make Meditations sound more modern wouldn't go over so well)  
> Question: Should I be unimaginative and call the mall "The Promenade"?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rumour has it that there's more to the local Chocolatier than it seems.

Julian is fairly certain that he’d only ever seen Jabara this particular kind of serious once before (the personal kind of serious, the ‘you won’t like what I have to say’ kind of serious – he’d last seen it about a month after they’d started sharing a dorm room and she’d sat him down and told him she was a lesbian and had a girlfriend, so if he could please stop hitting on her, it was really getting on her nerves – ), so he immediately began running through a mental list of all the things he’d possibly done wrong over the last few weeks – or maybe his parents had called while he was away? Oh, that’d certainly do it, depending on what they had said and whether it was his father or his mother – he felt himself nod, because there really wasn’t anything else to do, no plausible excuses not to have a quick chat, and now Jabara pushed herself away from the counter and tried to take a firmer stance, and was that a bit of pity in her eyes –

“It’s about Garak.”

Oh.

“Ah. Uhm-“ That was not at all what he had expected to hear. “I- what about him? He’s fine, right? I mean, I only saw him a few minutes ago and he seemed perfectly alright- “

“It’s not about that, don’t worry. Well-“ Ah, so he should be worried, but apparently it wasn’t about Garak’s teeth, that’s good – “I’ve been talking with one of Quark’s servers, Leeta, since we both come from the same city, and I’ve heard from a lot of people since – they’re saying that he was apparently involved in some bad stuff. Not only was he acquitted of murder since he claimed self-defence, but he did kill someone! You can look it up – there’s also rumours he was – “ she moved in closer and made sure no errant customers had decided to ignore their “Closed”-sign, “people have been saying that he was involved with the local mob, and had a hand in quite a few… _odd_ occurrences with the city council.”

At this point, Julian was certain he’d rather have had his father found out about his new place of work.

“Really, Jabara? Listen, I know very well that Garak doesn’t seem the most normal bloke around, and he doesn’t socialize much with everyone, but that’s no reason to start making up these kinds of stories!” He saw her take a deep breath, no, that came out wrong, didn’t it – “I know you’re only saying what you heard, but still! Even if what you’re saying is true, and he killed someone in self-defence – I’m not saying I condone it, even so I can understand that people do all kinds of things when they’re scared, but the mob? Seriously?”

He’d really thought that made a compelling argument, but Jabara seemed anything but relaxed, or apologetic – no, that was her ‘Julian is once again showing that he’s almost six years younger than me’ look.

“Julian, you weren’t there. My home city, Bajor, is right across the river from where he’s from – “

“Yes, Cardassia City, he’s told me – “

“And believe me when I say the local politics are ruthless. Bajor constantly gets caught up in the kinds of things that go on over there: it’s like they made their own little police state! There’s a curfew in place, and the leading party on the city council is said to have ties to their own little branch of the mob, and there really is enough evidence for that, as anyone who’s gotten a little too closely involved with politics over there will tell you. These are not just some allegations.”

Talking about home was always a sore subject with Jabara (not that his stories about home were any better), so no matter how ridiculous this all sounded, Julian knew he should better be careful, and maybe not put his foot in his mouth and lose one of his closest friends. He took a deep breath.

“And what exactly am I supposed to take away from that then?” There, no more talking about Bajor, conversation back to where it was supposed to be, and he saw Jabara take a deep breath as if she had noticed that she’d been getting defensive.

“I- well, I can’t tell you to stay away from him, Julian, I know that. But I do care about you, so… just be careful with him, alright? And maybe look into that court case. You should really know what you’re getting into here.” Nevermind the fact that Julian felt like he had about a thousand questions left to ask, his nurse seemed to have said her piece and wandered into the back again, trying to relax her posture. So, Julian set the book down that he’d awkwardly held onto during the conversation and fished his phone out of his trouser pockets instead.

‘Thriller in Cardassia City – Whose fault was it?’ – ‘When you aren’t sure who was the perpetrator and who the victim-‘ – ‘Police was called as a heavily bruised man, later identified as the Accused E. Garak, ran out into the crowded streets of the Torr District-‘ – ‘The man claims to have been abducted and tortured by an old family acquaintance, the late B. Lokar, eldest son of Councilman Lokar-‘ – ‘-saw his only chance of escape as he was untied at his abductor’s whim, and claimed to have had no idea as to whether Lokar was alive or dead as he struggled out of the abandoned houses window-‘ – ‘Jury sided with Garak, seeing as he was seen heavily wounded by several witnesses and traces of his abduction had indeed been found, thus having him go free on the grounds of self-defence.’

_Huh._ Perhaps, when he gave Garak a book of his in return, he should not choose something quite as _true-crime_ -related as he usually would bother to read.

Nevertheless, while it certainly was an unsettling story to happen to someone, Julian figured he shouldn’t mention it – after all, it might really be a sore spot for his lunch companion. And no matter what Jabara said, no matter that he was fairly certain he wouldn’t have done the same in that situation, this was no reason to simply condemn the man.

With a sigh and a glance at his phone’s clock, 2:23, he closed the article and heaved himself out of the waiting room chair. He made a grab for the book, but really, he should use his eyes every once in a while before acting, he’d only grabbed the cover – that’s no way to treat something borrowed, Julian and you know it – and as he scrambled to catch the rest of the heavy papers with his other hand, easier said than done, phone and all, he noticed a small slip of paper had fallen out. It held a small logo, a kind of backwards question mark that tapered off towards the bottom and had a little bump at the top and an odd jagged edge in the middle, and someone’s neat handwriting on it in what looked to be pencil.

‘I found this while cleaning up. I know you already bought a new copy, but I thought you’d like to have this one back – notes and all. ~M’

_‘Notes and all?’_ And, indeed, as Julian thumbed through the pages, there were some small notations on a good majority of the pages, little comments and exclamations and questions, though some looked straight-up indecipherable, even for someone who could truly claim to have a Doctor’s handwriting. He’d have to ask Garak about these next week then, he thought, as he tucked the note back into the book, hoping not to lose it a second time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One of the things that's always bothered me about Deep Dish Nine is that Julian doesn't get the kind of warning about Garak's past before "The Wire" (or, in DD9, the drug withdrawal) as he does in the show, which makes it more dramatic than the episode's Hurt/Comfort, so I wanted to remedy that a bit by making some plot!  
> Also, is there anyone who'd be interested in beta reading for this? I'd of course return the favour, but I basically know noone in this fandom who I could ask this of...


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lunch, Julian being relatable, and a surprise.

Julian had never been quite sure how some adults managed to keep up such time- and energy consuming hobbies like actual, proper reading. Sure, he enjoyed his books, but to him that meant reading a chapter before bed at most, at least since he started med school, and that hadn’t changed since – rather, he had developed a fondness for comics in the last decade: it made the task of imagining the written scenario a whole lot easier. Now, however, he found himself surprised by his own reading speed. He really shouldn’t be, he did train himself in several speed-increasing reading techniques (some voluntarily, others less so), but he was still astounded that after years of light reading and studying text books, he could still manage to read a good four hundred pages in a few days. More than that, Julian found that he actually enjoyed immersing himself in a story again, really buckling down and absorbing paragraph after paragraph like he hadn’t done since hiding under his blanket with a torch as a child – not that he’d tell Garak that, or else the Chocolatier would actually take that as a compliment for that book!

Truth be told, Julian hadn’t known what to expect, he’d never been much for war stories – the authors tended to emphasize the truly sad and gruesome parts in such a way that he could practically hear the sad violins – but really, this ‘Preloc’ woman spent more time quite literally contemplating the imminent threat of war and her main character getting drafted than she spent worldbuilding and figuring out _why_ there was a war on and _how_ the war was going. Well, at least she was staying true to the title, he supposed.

Unfortunately, this put Julian in a bit of a pickle: Garak had said that he looked forward to having someone to talk about the book with, but Julian found very little positive to say about it! If all else failed, he could certainly mention how he quite enjoyed the grammatic composition of the sentences, since it seemed complicated at first but always managed to make the sentence come together in such a way that the whole thing suddenly made sense and showed exactly which of all the double meanings strewn throughout was the one the author wanted to convey – but that was no way to talk about someone else’s favourite book! He couldn’t very well turn up at lunch and say _‘Thanks for that book, Garak, I think it could’ve done with about a hundred pages less introspection and about a hundred more of describing what was actually going on’_ , or he could just say good-bye to his too-smart too-handsome too-incredible lunch companion and that thought really held no appeal at all.

Thus, it was with equal parts excitement (since that simply couldn’t be helped when it came to Garak, it seemed) and dread in his stomach that Julian made his way across the mall towards the Panera on Monday.

As last week, the restaurant was rather crowded at lunch, but at least it lacked the certain…rowdy atmosphere that Quark’s always seemed to carry. No offence to the resident employee hangout, of course, but it was, after all, a bar, and not a restaurant of any kind, and even if Julian knew better than to say so outright, something about an official meeting like this at a slightly fancier location made a shiver run down his spine. One more meeting which wouldn’t be marked by people who knew him trying to talk to him, to just have Garak to himself for one and a half hours at a time, and the added weight one of his own favourite childhood novel in the little bookbag (which it now literally was, seeing as it was carrying books) made him hope that he could make sure there was going to be a third time to this as well.

The resident chocolatier had apparently situated himself at the same table as they had sat last time, a booth tucked away against the window front, and was happily sipping something that appeared to be steaming, with a scent not unlike Julian’s own favourite tea, if perhaps a fair bit more spicy. Garak had done away with his apron as per usual, and was instead sporting a green striped sweater – by itself not a particularly offending garment, but it took all Julian had not to burst out laughing at the fact that Garak had apparently not thought his choice of jacket through, seeing as he was sporting a red dress shirt with black dots underneath. He tried very hard to hide his grin as he approached the table, but apparently there had been some truth to the time his drama teacher had told him that he was too much of an open book to act, as Garak was observing him with the beginnings of a frown.

“Well, tell me, Doctor, what is it exactly about this situation that’s making you smile?” There was a wary glint in the chocolatier’s eyes that told Julian his grin had become something of a teasing smirk without his permission.

“You, Garak.” Not that he could help himself, really.

“Hm?” Also, there was something quite fun about being the one doing the teasing for once.

“Have you looked in a mirror lately?” Bit harsh? Hopefully not.

“And what’s that supposed to mean?” He tried to hide the chuckle that made it’s way out at Garak whipping around to scrutinize his reflection in the window and then quickly pretending the movement to have been a cough.

“Let’s just say – that dress shirt and that sweater together were not the most fortunate of picks.” That only got him a slightly confused look and a raised eyebrow, so Julian leant across the table ever so slightly and lowered his voice to what could be described as a stage whisper. “You, my dear Mister Garak, look a little bit like a watermelon.”

Julian was certain he had never had the pleasure of watching the chocolatier’s face show his true emotion before, flashing through confusion, over realisation, to mild annoyance, likely more at himself than his lunch companion. But within a second, the ‘polite-company’ smirk was back.

“Why, Doctor, are you trying to call me delicious?”

_Oh._ There goes his triumph at being the smooth one for once. Was there anything that man couldn’t turn to his advantage? _Think, Julian, how to answer – you can’t just simply be honest and say that you’ve never really liked watermelons – but if you lie, he might take that as an acknowledgement that you do like them and you’ll have to live with that – or was that a serious flirtation? –_

“Well then, Doctor, I suppose one should have lunch before dessert?”

_Damn. Thought too long._ Julian felt a flush spread along his cheeks as he nodded and they went to select their meals.

“Well then, Doctor, I must admit I’ve rather been looking forward to this. Tell me: What did you think of Contemplations on a Crimson Phantom?”

Damn that outfit and it being so distracting. “Uhm…would you like the good things or the bad things first?” There. That should give him an idea of just how Garak would react if he bad-talked this novel.

“Oh, don’t hold back your opinion on my account! I gave you that book to discuss it, not hear you recite the first newspaper praise you came across!”

Was Julian usually this transparent, or was Garak just better than the average person at reading him?

“Well…personally, I’ve never been too fond of war stories. They always seem so dramatic and have such over-the-top descriptions…”

It was with huge relief that Julian gradually became aware that Garak was not after someone to be a fanboy with: The chocolatier instead seemed to enjoy the debate, picked up on Julian’s thoughts and then systematically debunked them so that the doctor was left with the shambles of an argument that required him to think fast in order to keep up with the conversation. Julian was fairly certain he’d never been quite so engaged in a topic for a long time, especially when he went to take another bite from his pizza only to discover that he’d apparently finished it within the fifteen minutes since it had been served – he’d simply not been paying attention to anyone but Garak and his clever words. Thus it came as no surprise when his phone lit up with the alarm he’d set for 2:10 pm (just in case, he’d told himself, but truly, he was amazed at his occasional foresight) – at least in the sense that he’d completely lost track of time and needed the alarm to shock him out of the conversation, not in the sense that he wasn’t surprised that it was already that late – he truly felt as if barely half an hour had passed.

Julian fancied himself that Garak had been just as surprised by the timer, but as always, the other man hid his reactions eerily well.

“Oh, is that the time? I truly must be getting back to my shop. Thank you for an enjoyable lunch, Doctor.”

“Oh, it’s nothing to thank me for, it’s not like this was a chore!” He went to fish his book bag from the chair. “Also here’s your book back – oh, by the way, I found this paper –“ he fished for the little note – “I’m sorry, it fell out, I hope you weren’t marking anything important with it, and I didn’t know where to put it back in-“

“Doctor, it’s quite alright.” Garak gingerly plucked the note from Julian’s fingers and examined it. “Ah, yes, that was still in there, wasn’t it? I must’ve been using it as a bookmark at some point…”

“Garak, may I ask…”

“Hm?”

“Who’s ‘M’? Y’know, the person that signed the note?”

Was that a bit of hesitation there?

“Oh, that must’ve been Mila – a housekeeper where I once lived – she sent this to me after I’d moved out.”

“Huh.” Not the kind of family history Julian had been hoping for, but he figured that wouldn’t be easy terrain with Garak anyways. Still – even if only to put Jabara at ease, he felt like he had to pry at least a little. “D’you mind if I ask – my nurse has been hearing some rumours – and not only the court case, but, mind you, I wouldn’t have googled you if she hadn’t said anything, but we don’t have to talk about that – she said that, some people say that you were involved with some…not so honourable people back then…”

_Smooth, reeeeeeally smooth_ , Julian. Now, Garak’s ‘customer-service’ smile seemed veritably glued onto his face.

“Doctor! You’re not… _intimating_ , that I’m some sort of… _criminal_ , are you?”

“I-I wouldn’t know, really –“ Oh that was really not something to say to one’s very attractive lunch companion was it –

But Garak was already chuckling again, oh, bless that man and his ability to read him so well, so Julian ducked his head and allowed himself a slightly awkward laugh as well.

“Sorry, that was…yeah.” A new low for even Julian when it came to social interaction, but he left that unsaid.

“All is forgiven, Doctor, believe me, I’ve heard much worse in my time. Shall we return to our respective workplaces?”

He quickly nodded his assent, grateful for the way out, and started cleaning up his spot. “I really have a tendency to put my foot in my mouth sometimes. There’s just…a gap between what I mean and what comes out of my mouth – Oh!” He reached for his bookbag again, which lay forgotten on the other chair. “I brought you something! To borrow, I mean, like you did for me – I just, I figured may you’d like to do this again next week? With a different book?”

Tentatively, Julian presented his selection to the chocolatier, who, after a short scrutinizing look, took the book into his own hands.

“Pacific Vortex? I must admit, Doctor, I didn’t take you for the type to read something looking quite so…flashy.”

“It was one of my first thrillers, actually. I used to love Clive Cussler as a teenager – just the right measure of flashy gadgets and adventure for a teen, but still serious enough that I can reread them without cringing nowadays!”

“That sounds fairly reasonable, I suppose…” Garak raised one of his perfect eyebrows and gave Julian a brief appraising look – he tried not to squirm – before nodding and straightening up. “Very well then, Doctor, I shall indulge you.”

With that, he gestured towards the exit, and they joined the bustling lunch crowd out in the large corridor.

“I hope you don’t think that I picked that book because I thought you’d like it, Garak: I chose it because you said outright that your book wouldn’t be quite to my tastes, so I thought I’d let you expand your literary palate, like you did for me – if that makes any sense?” _That wasn’t too long a sentence there, was it?_ Funny, Julian was fairly certain he had not paid any mind to his ability to speak just a few minutes back, but now, it seemed, his social anxiety had also returned from lunch break.

“Oh, certainly, Doctor! I do believe we’ll teach each other quite – “

It took Julian a second to realize he’d left Garak a few metres behind him, as the other man had stopped in his tracks, looking past Julian at something that was now, as he was turning back towards his lunch companion, apparently behind him.

“Garak, is everything alright?”

The chocolatier gave a slight nod with his head as Julian joined him at his side and followed his gaze to a rather tall man with almost ashen skin, incredibly sharp and pronounced facial features and a suit with shoulder pads so pronounced it could’ve almost been a product of the eighties. For a moment, Garak seemed quite speechless, before he shook his head slightly.

“Well, there’s something you don’t see every day…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope to all gods that this is comprehensible - I really struggled with certain paragraphs and descriptions. Anyways, I've now decided to add a bit more plot to give the rumours some weight ;)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Introducing: A bitch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was beta'd by the lovely Yeeto_Cheeto! Thanks so much!

To be honest, the way the stranger was standing at his little booth across the hall, all self-important and proud, his long neck almost made him look like an angry turtle, and the odd neckline wasn’t helping – but Julian wasn’t about to point that out, especially since he was virtually certain that he’d never seen Garak quite so tense, his eyebrows furrowed tightly together and his hands clenching slightly as if he was trying to keep from gesturing in some way. It didn’t look to Julian like he’d be much for jokes right now.

“Well, I admit he looks a bit odd, but…d’you know him?”

“Well, one could certainly say that!” The chocolatier didn’t let his eyes off the strange man as he spoke with wry amusement. “While we’ve personally not had the pleasure all that often, he is an unfortunately prominent politician where I come from – which leaves me with one very important question: What is he doing here?”

Seeing as Cardassia City was halfway across the country, Julian could certainly agree that that was a question worth answering. He craned his neck and took a few steps towards the middle of the hallway until he could get a better look at the sign that was glued to the small table the man was standing behind.

“The sign there says he’s collecting money for the Tozhat Orphanage just out of town – I mean, that’s a good thing, of course, but why would someone from Cardassia come all the way here? Why not collect for a local cause?”

“Why indeed, Doctor, why indeed. I’m afraid, as much as I’m sure you’d like to believe in the altruism of a cause like this, things are never that simple when it comes to Councilmember Dukat. I can assure you from personal experience that anything he does is to further his own career.”

“You think he’s lying then? About the orphanage and all that?”

“There is a distinct possibility, especially since he did cast his vote a few years prior  _ against _ opening one of our very own in Cardassia City.”

Really, there were hardly words for that kind of behaviour. What kind of person would seriously oppose a care facility like that? Julian felt his mouth contort in distaste. Just then, he noticed a rather imposing and well-known figure making its way through the crowd – General Manager Sisko had that kind of effect on people, like you had to be on your best behaviour – and he was steadily approaching the small donation stand.

“Hey, Garak, Sisko’s on his way to talk to – Dukat, you said?” A nod. “If we got a little closer, maybe we could find out a bit more?”

“Ah, I’m afraid Dukat wouldn’t take well to seeing me, even at a distance. But by all means, dear Doctor, feel free to do all the reconnaissance you deem necessary.” Julian couldn’t be sure, he never could with Garak, but there was a hint of wariness in his lunch companion’s eyes. Still, he couldn’t deny that his curiosity was piqued, so he gave Garak a short nod and started sauntering casually (he hoped) towards the donation stand, where Sisko had already arrived.

It took a good few metres before Julian could pick out the specific conversation between Sisko and the councilmember from all the general noise – something about the permit for collecting money and all that, Dukat produced a piece of paper –

“- well, Mister Sisko, there are really no such places in my region, so I thought showing my people how noble such a cause could be would go a long way towards establishing such a care facility.”

Sisko seemed to buy into that, it was a fair argument out of context, Julian had to admit, but, armed with his new knowledge from Garak, that didn’t seem to fit the picture at all. Before Sisko could be off again, he quickly approached the stand.

“Excuse me, Councilmember Dukat, is it?” This earned him curious looks from both Sisko and Dukat, and he realised it was probably not expected as common knowledge around here, well, no matter – “I see you’re collecting for the Tozhat Orphanage. D’you mind if I asked you a small question?”

The council member narrowed his eyes at him. “And who might you be?”

Oh. Yes. That was probably rude.

“Ah- sorry, I’m Doctor Bashir, the resident dentist.” Dukat nodded and took the offered hand.

“And what can I do for you, Doctor?”

“Well, I was simply wondering – why are you so eager to establish an orphanage in Cardassia City now? If I understand correctly, you opposed the proposal to establish a city-run orphanage there just a few years back.”

Dukat cast an uncomfortable glance at Manager Sisko, who seemed rather intrigued by the whole exchange. “You must understand, Doctor, that I do not act alone – I must comply with the wishes of my party –“

“Excuse me, but if I understand the local elective system correctly, party orientation has no authority over the vote cast in the city council. If you were so passionate about orphanages that you decide to show this kind of initiative now, why didn’t you do something about it back then?”

Oh, there was definitely something there, and Dukat looked more annoyed by the second.

“And who’s been tutoring you on our local social studies, Doctor?”

“Oh, just one of the shopkeepers here that I talk to.” Judging from Garak’s earlier reaction, not mentioning him by name was likely a wise choice.

“Well, then you should remind that  _ shopkeeper _ ” – how could someone speak with so much distaste about a person they didn’t know? – “that to keep any position within the Central Command Party, one cannot simply oppose the wishes of the majority. The decision against the orphanage was made by that majority, and was one that I clearly opposed. I’ve regretted the outcome of that ever since. Thank you for your concern, Doctor. Good day, Manager.”

Dukat seemed to see this conversation as over, judging from the fact that he had turned his attention back to his permit papers, and Sisko was already retreating back towards his office. Quickly, Julian jumped after him.

“Manager Sisko! Excuse me – I really think something is off here. I think there’s more going on here than we realise.”

“Is that an opinion, or do you have evidence to support it?”

“I- well, Mister Garak said all the things about the vote and such, and we suspect – “

“So you decided to interrupt my inspection to confront him about something Mister Garak said and you’re not sure of?”

Oh, really, social norms seemed more elusive today than ever. “I’m sorry, Manager Sisko. It just seemed an opportune…”

“Oh, don’t apologize! That man was a pain to talk to! To see him squirm like that must’ve been the high point of my day! But, please, Doctor – don’t make a habit out of it?”

It was clear in the Manager’s face that he himself couldn’t quite decide whether to be amused or annoyed by this, so Julian simply nodded, mumbled another apology and turned back to leave towards where Garak was watching with a definite expression of some mirth.

“Really, Doctor, what a magnificent performance! I could almost feel his discomfort from over here! What did you find out?”

“Oh, I thought you wanted nothing to do with this, Garak?” His teasing grin was met with a similar expression, even if mixed with mild annoyance. “He tried to tell Sisko how he wanted to inspire Cardassia’s citizens to open an orphanage of their own, so you can imagine he was quite unhappy to be confronted with his past decision.”

The chocolatier gave a thoughtful nod. “There truly seems to be more going on here than we think. It would certainly hurt the impression of consistency he’s been cultivating for him to have officially changed his mind – there must be something about that orphanage that it is quite worth sacrificing it for… Tell me, my dear Doctor: Would you be available for a little investigation?”

Was he really being flirted with via the prospect of a potential political intrigue? Garak’s grin certainly suggested so, and Julian couldn’t help but match his expression of enthusiasm.

“Why, I think for the good of the public, I would be eager to assist.”

With that, they parted into their respective shops with a mutual nod of goodbye.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I end up rewriting the whole of "Cardassians" for this? Yes, yes I did.


End file.
